Sep 3rd, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Live Mics
No doubt Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy are just further examples of the liberal sexist snob smear machine:
Now it’s not especially remarkable that both Noonan and Murphy seem to have private views on this matter that are considerably less GOP friendly than the ones they’re comfortable expressing in public, but it is remarkable that that fact isn’t remarkable. In a sane world, one wouldn’t put talking heads on TV to express their opinions unless they were going to express their genuine opinions.
60 Responses to “Live Mics”
Register
RSSLogin
Advertisement
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Books By Matthew Yglesias
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bailout
Basketball
Budget
Bush Legacy
Cars
climate
Congress
Conservatism
Culture
DC
Economics
Economy
education
Energy
Environment
Finance
Health care
Health Care
History
Housing
Inequality
Iran
iraq
Israel
mccain
Media
National Review
National Security
NBA
obama
Pakistan
Palin
planning
Public Opinion
Race
Regulation
SCOTUS
Sports
Stimulus
taxes
Torture
transit
Transition
transportation
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Contact Matthew Yglesias
Use this form to contact blog author Matthew Yglesias.
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:27 pm
It really just illustrates that most talking heads are propagandists. And the media knows it and thinks that’s just fine.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
EXACTLY, what I found most remarkable was not Murphy and Noonan voicing a different opinion but that Chuck Todd so happy just to play along. Todd doesn’t show the slightest chagrin that their honest conversation reflected very different views than the pantomime they had just completed. So much of what passes for political analysis is simply kabuki theater.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
And it’s not just on cable news. Wasn’t Murphy spouting bullshit all over that panel you sat in on yesterday. Apparently he is a liar for hire. What an awesome gig.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I’d like to see what they said about her in the live interview, seconds before this off camera clip. I’m guessing this will make TDS tonight.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Was it a legit hot mic, or have the wiser ones started to make clear that Sarah’s gotta go? While I love the analysis that it is worse to admit a mistake and repeat the Eagleton debacle, come on, we know if they have a chance at winning they have to drop her now where the sympathy level might be high (Daily Kos spread some rumors so now she has to be with her family…). “It’s over” is a pretty clear statement.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Paging David Brooks. David Brooks, pick up the white courtesy telephone, please.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Just as long as McCain doesn’t say he is behind her one hundred percent.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
It’s all about “balance.”
Balance means that 50% of the people on the air have to seem to be supporting the Republican party, no matter how batshit crazy they get.
“Well, Tim, as you know, President Nero remains pretty popular with the base, and I think his policy of killing firstborn children may actually play pretty well in the South and the mountain West.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
not politics, Kabukitics
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
“Just as long as McCain doesn’t say he is behind her one hundred percent.”
The McGovern statement was “one thousand percent.”
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Man, I got chills when Noonan said “It’s OVER.” (I’m weirdly fond of Ms. Noonan, nutty as she can be.)
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Palin is so confident about Troopergate that she’s filed an ethics complaint against herself.
Sounds like that ought to be a Colbert Report joke.
‘Tain’t.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Shows what the GOP thinks of Texas:
.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Whatever she did for the Reagan Revolution - Peggy Noonan writes well and is perceptive. In the punditocracy - that’s rare.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
While on camera, Peggy Noonan offered “We’re a nation of Wasillas, not of Chicagos.” Eh?
It has been amusing to see/hear all these folks telling us that Palin’s executive experience makes her so much more qualified than Obama…. with a straight face.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Peggy, give us just a taste of your trashy pillow talk. C’mon, just a taste. I bet Bill Clinton’s name gets kicked around when Peggy is gettin’ her nasty on.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Whatever she did for the Reagan Revolution - Peggy Noonan writes well and is perceptive. In the punditocracy - that’s rare.
Yes, but how can you ever read her again without thinking she is flat out lying to you?
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
This is nothing but survival of the fittest. A GOP shill who tells the truth is an unfit GOP shill.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
It has been amusing to see/hear all these folks telling us that Palin’s executive experience makes her so much more qualified than Obama…. with a straight face.
And never pointing out that the same thing applies to McCain.
Peggy Riefenstahl would never mention that.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Was it a legit hot mic, or have the wiser ones started to make clear that Sarah’s gotta go?
Legit hot mic. There have been a few on the cabloids these past days, which I think is one of the occupational hazards of an OB setup and coordinating local and back-east production crews. This morning, you caught Matthews (I think) saying ‘Jeeeesus’ after some clips of Lieberman’s speech.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
So, not only can these pundits get it completely wrong time after time and still keep their jobs, they can *knowingly* get it wrong and still keep their jobs?
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The other really sad thing here is that they still think that the great thing about McCain is no cynicism. Do they mean thats the best part of his image or do they think that it is true. If they do think its just phony why don’t they stop helping him sell it.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:42 pm
The other thing this illustrates is the *actual* elitism of the pundit/political class. One story draped in fake populism for the rubes and useful idiots out there; the truth when off camera. Remember Rush after the 2006 midterms? Complaining that he had to come into work and shovel this shit about the GOP that he didn’t really believe?
Also fits in with Bill Kristol’s Straussian “noble lies.”
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
No, what’s remarkable is that in private they sound halfway sane, but they shed that persona in public, talk like crazy people, and it works.
I think generally we assume that in public people watch what they say, and save their coarser and stupider opinions for private moments. I certainly try to.
But these guys are just the opposite. They’re the Jerry Lewis wing of whatever they are- so crazy in public they can’t keep it up in private. Which I guess is typical of whores and actors.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
You should be confident, given the tough circumstances McCain faces, and the electorate’s natural tendency to turn the White House over after 8 years, but how overconfident should you all be?
If it’s really OVER, then go put your money down on Obama at Tradesports. Your $.61 now will get you a buck at current rates if Obama wins this race that already “over”. That’s a nice return if this really is a done deal.
If you’re not rushing out to place your bets, maybe it’s not over.
I bet Obama doesn’t think it’s over.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Can anyone explain what “that’s what you do in Texas, you run it up” means? I’m… just baffled.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I thought pundits talked about where to get the best Lexus deal or things like that. So I was pleasantly surprised.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Fuzzy, the idea seems to be that in Texas you appeal to your base by putting a hard-right winger on the ticket so as to run up your margin. Murphy’s saying he should’ve picked a moderate from a blue state.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
“In a sane world, …”
Maybe it’s time we stopped using this hypothetical. The world is not sane and probably never will be. “If we were on Mars…” is likely to become a relevant hypothetical much sooner than our world becoming sane.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I’ve just watched Stretch interview the on camera Mike Murphy and it’s just like watching professional wrestling. They’re all just play acting. Murphy needs to pick up a breakaway chair, wrap it over Rachel Maddow’s head, jump on the table and declare himself champion pundit.
100% Crap!
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
“Can anyone explain what “that’s what you do in Texas, you run it up” means? I’m… just baffled.”
In Texas, even the most extreme right wing candidate can win an election because liberals and moderates combined are less than 45% of the electorate. So Republicans move way to the right in the primary to win. And they stay that far right to avoid a primary challenge in the future. That strategy doesn’t work in national elections because there are too many moderates.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Jeffrey Davis:
That is just a tactic to delay the investigation.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Of course we remember it. The probably is it’s lost down the memory hole for wingnuts. Now the only people who would bring that up are hippie comienazi traitors so it’s dead as dead can be.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I think most of the talking heads on television think that they are playing a part rather than expressing opinion. Nobody could honestly believe all the things that the Peggy Noonans and Rush Limbaughs say. Instead they are playing characters who believe those things. It’s really not so different from Stephen Colbert which is part of the reason why that show is able to skewer those personalities so effortlessly.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
my best guess, is he’s using shorthand for the old-fashioned saying, “run it up the flagpole” — in other words, you can do pretty much anything in Texas as long as you can sell it as conservative. Just run it up the flagpole.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_it_up_the_flagpole
It’s particularly interesting that Murphy’s experience is in tight, swing states, and that he says flatly that Palin won’t work in those places.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
There are relatively few comments here right now, so perhaps this is the best place to express to express my conspiracy theory. After reading excerpts from her speech at TPM, it’s clear that part of the McCain-Palin strategy is to cast themselves as victims of the media. Meanwhile, Murphy and Noonan have been on television hundreds of times, so it seems surprising that they’d not realize that a microphone was on. And McCain’s people may be assholes, but they aren’t complete idiots, so it’s not as if they didn’t realize that a video like this would be spread around the Internet faster than you can say POW. So do you think that there’s anything to this idea, or am I missing some big part of the conspiracy here?
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Brian, I don’t see any way that having Mike Murphy, McCain’s former campaign manager, or Peggy Noonan, Ronald Reagan’s speech writer, be seen to trash his VP pick is good for McCain.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
In a sane world, one wouldn’t put talking heads on TV to express their opinions unless they were going to express their genuine opinions.
From Luntz and Noonan? This is the most corrupt, conservative bunch out there, and with the media as corrupt as it is, anything that makes its way onto the news has to be questioned. You can’t assume it’s not orchestrated.
The key to understanding Palin is understanding that the Republican ticket is doing consistently bad in this race and that Palin is a noval move to win over swing voters. She’s in fact a loyal Republican soldier– a Christian wingnut and a book-burner of course, a so-called “feminist” woman who has absolutely no problem with the institution of beauty contests– but her pick was a pick to get people who are not core conservatives onto the boat.
Now, so far, it turned out the public is too smart. There has been no Palin-related bump. But selling Sarah Palin is about pandering to swing voters, not about working with the base. How do you convince swing-voters that Sarah Palin is the genuine merchandise, someone they can pull for and get behind like you planned for them to, instead of a scarily-extreme conservative? Show some conservatives deriding her. I wouldn’t doubt it at all. The ground is moving around for them and it’s not moving in a way that’s favorable for their ticket, so they have to keep thinking of things and trying things.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
someone they can pull for and get behind like you planned for them to, instead of a scarily-extreme conservative? Show some conservatives deriding her.
And importantly, you set it up to make it look honest- one of these “captured mic” things that is becoming increasingly common, although it almost never used to happen 10 years ago and earlier. It’s the easiest thing in the world to arrange, and you have one of the shills say the f-word so it looks authentic. It’s formulaic.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Well, I dropped my cable awhile back, so I have the satisfaction of knowing none of these vermin are doing it on my dime.
Still, in a sane world, people like Murphy and Noonan who knowingly dissemble about their political opinions would never be allowed on a journalistic program. And a host who knowingly allowed them to dissemble would be fired.
Actual journalism is dead. What we have instead is a transparent corporate-fueled fraud run by and for a corps of liars so corrupt and dishonest that they don’t even realize that their lies are despicable, or even out-of-the-ordinary.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
My bad. The problem is it’s lost….
President Bartlett did the open mic thing once also. And during an election no less.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Romney with the inflation alert!
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
What’s hilarious like a boot in the head is the fact that, when somebody hot mics, everybody’s like “oh, well, he was just hot miking, he didn’t really mean it” even though when hot miking you’re saying what you really think.
I fucking hate our media.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Go read her update on the wsj.com and tell me that woman hasn’t been drinking. Heavily. It would be irresponsible not to speculate, naturally.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
So what about the magic dolphins that saved little Elian? Was that a bullshit narrative Peggy?
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=95000429
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
About 15 years ago, KCRW (NPR-affiliate, Santa Monica, CA) decided to go outside the box and give David Horowitz his own call-in show. As you might imagine, the lines were flooded with callers taking violent exception to his opinions. After many, many shoot from the hip calls, someone finally took the time to calmly and clearly object to David’s doctrinaire stance on whatever the topic was.
His response was that if you caught him in a coffee shop, you’d get a much more nuanced discussion, but that his purpose on the air was to stimulate debate by holding rigidly to a particular line of reasoning.
I wish to Holy God that any of these assholes crowding the airwaves today would be that honest. But, I have to remind myself that most of these people are just better dressed Billy Mays, and they’re paid well to sell the party line. David could afford honesty, because he knew his gig at KCRW was an experiment, not the money maker.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:07 am
The fact that debates are routinely between shills is a depressing fact about modern political coverage. But pundits have to have a base just like politicians do. Peggy Noonan telling the truth is fun, but on the whole it makes her less popular.
Isn’t MY often telling liberals to “work the refs” just like conservatives have done? The result of that kind of approach to the media is a standoff of shills, not interesting, smart people saying what they think. There are 100x more complaints to media outlets about ideological bias than there are complaints about people playing the shill and spouting talking points.
“Was that a bullshit narrative Peggy?”
Exactly right–I have no idea what she means by this idea that conservatives aren’t comfortable with campaigning on “narratives”. The whole idea seems to be to tell Palin’s story and bet that it’s a lot more compelling to the white median voter than Obama’s black, South Side, community organizer, cosmopolitan story.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Sorry, I wrote Luntz, but I meant Chuck Todd. They’re cut from the same cloth– that’s why.
September 4th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for the explanation, y’all! Makes… slightly more sense now.
And yes, Noonan’s insistence that Republicans are bad with narratives is just bizarre—narrative over policy is what Republicans have been running on since St. Reagan.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:31 am
viagra
I want to say - thank you for this!
March 1st, 2009 at 7:39 pm
cialis
It is the coolest site,keep so!
March 11th, 2009 at 5:12 am
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
March 14th, 2009 at 5:56 am
I want to say - thank you for this!
xanax
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:33 am
tramadol
Incredible site!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 am
I want to say - thank you for this!
buy cheap viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 8:21 am
It is the coolest site,keep so! viagra
April 14th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Thanks for the review!
viagra